Basic Times

I've just received (almost) everything I need to start developing my own film. What are the basic times for developing film and paper?
I've done it once, and from what I remember, It was about 1 minute of film pre-wash, 15min in developer, 1 minute in stop bath, and i cant remember fixer, then around 30 min in wash with photoflo added the end.
for paper, it was lef t in there untill I liked it, then stop bath for 30 seconds, then 20 min in fixer? and 45 min or so of wash.
For an amateur just learning, are these pretty good times to follow?

thanks

If you can provide more information on which film you use, if you shot the film at the speed indicated on the box it came in, which chemistry you're using to develop your film, how it's diluted, and how you plan to agitate the film, it would help. If you don't know all of those, that's OK, you could get help with that here too.
30 minutes to wash film seems excessive. But you cannot over-wash film, so if you leave it in longer than you intended, there is no harm done.

For paper, you should always keep the print in the developer for the same amount of time. Then you adjust the 'density' in the print with exposure. Most chemistry says 2 or 3 minutes. I always develop my prints for 3 minutes, unless I use some type of special chemistry.

I hope that helps,

- Thomas

Oh, sorry about the lack of real info, I've been shooting Ilford 400 iso, and I have some rolls of Ilford 100 iso, and I've been shooting at the box labeled ISO.
I have the standard Ilford B&W chemicals. I'll dilute with what the box tells me.
For agitation, I have a developing tank roller, but I'm not sure if those are any good, should I just shake it every 30 seconds or so?

thanks for the help

Let's get a bit more precise. Ilford makes two 400 ISO films. They make at least three or four film developers. If you want to help yourself, do this:

1. Read on the chemistry bottle how long Ilford recommends you to develop the film. That's a good starting point.
2. Go to http://www.ilfordphoto.com - they have a plethora of information on how to best practice film developing. They really have it laid out nicely.
3. 'Shaking' the tank is called agitating. You can use different methods. To begin, agitate for the entire first minute, then ten seconds every full minute until the 'time is up'. I used to develop film in the kitchen, and I just set my microwave timer to keep track. When you have practiced this a few times and you feel like you have the hang of it, in order to fully understand differences between developers and developing methods, you need to start printing those negatives. Otherwise you will inevitably lose out on quality when you finally do start printing. I have about three years worth of negatives that are extremely difficult to print, basically because I just developed negatives without printing them.

- Thomas

Dear Reticenti,

As for film, as Thomas says just check out our website :

If you are getting back into printing PM me your address and I will post you the MULTIGRADE printing manual

Regards

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Dear Reticenti,

As for film, as Thomas says just check out our website :

If you are getting back into printing PM me your address and I will post you the MULTIGRADE printing manual

Regards

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Click to expand...

I'm not getting back into printing, I'm starting to print/develop. I've only done developing/printing one time, and I had someone who pre-measured everything and told me how long to do it for. So I have only that one expeience to guide me. But I am using multigrade paper (which is the same as variable contrast I assume)

Reticenti said:

I'm starting to print/develop. I've only done developing/printing one time, and I had someone who pre-measured everything and told me how long to do it for.

Click to expand...

Well, there are tons of books and websites. But it all gets down to following the instructions. All of your film, paper and chemicals comes with instructions. In addition, Ilford's and Kodak's websites have more detailed instructions on how to do all this.

There is no one "correct" time. Developing times depend on the materials, the chemistry, and the temperature, at its simplest. We won't even go into all the other variables yet.

I downloaded and printed Ilford's data, so I have the developing time with temperature variations, and I also have the printing and developing guides they have on their website.
Again, thanks for all your help